To revive his disintegrating second term, Obama need not go
Bulworth and shock everyone with the audacity of truth. Nor must he Wag the
Dog: trump up a remote security menace, then pulverize some backwater to
distract from scandal-mania. As the president stumbles, bumbles, and feeds the
Clinton-Dubya-Obama culpability index, getting impeached would not be his worst
nightmare, especially if it delivers redemption.

Lurching again beyond satire, establishment media mavens
join the right's shot at politically lynching the Illegitimate One, musing about
channeling his "inner Nixon." Are cable pundits finally shocked, shocked to
discover Obama violates legal rights and only manages his campaigns well, or
that he's now saddled with an "evaporated" agenda thanks to dithering and insularity?

On point, phony impeachment broadcasts an extremist, five-year
mania to de-legitimatize an "interloper" with but two shiny, majority election
wins. That sage, Mike Huckabee, doubts Obama will finish his term, and Sen.
Inhofe floats
impeachment over Benghazi, "People may be starting to use the I-word before too
long." Michele Bachmann has no choice but channel her own angry,
mystified constituents, "what in the world are you all waiting for in Congress?
Why aren't you impeaching [this miscreant] making unconstitutional actions
since he came into office.'" Why not, indeed?

When rank partisans fire off phony articles of impeachment, casualties won't be
truth alone but the faux impeachers themselves, stung with their own malice. Impeachment
accomplishes what forever escapes Obama's golden tongue: present bullying GOP
misconduct as political terrorism, more injurious than a truckload of suicide
bombers. For the 100 amenable centrist voters somewhere, if not the historic
record, fabricated impeachment dramatizes the crusade to offset the American curse:
the elevation of a wayward, ex-Chicago community organizer with the wrong
parents, skin color, dubious cultural and political allies.

Recall how 1998 articles of impeachment revitalized Bill Clinton, rewarding
that shifty sex addict with a 73% approval rating. Besieged far and wide,
Obama's legacy begs for an adrenalin shot. And what beats another trumped up
impeachment against another Democratic president? House indictment raises the cynical
GOP politics of obstruction to high menace, with systemic taunts about high crimes.
Just what the right needs to incite: another rousing Obama spectacle that obscures
White House management blunders. Rest assured, no ideologue will confront
Obama's arguable "high crimes," namely illegal drone warfare, endless, no-trial
imprisonments, and rights abuses, but the following benefits, nonetheless, will
accrue:

1) Crass Impeachments Lift Even Mediocre Incumbents. According to CNN, the '98 GOP-Gingrich House impeachment
circus bloodied itself, not the presidency. In fact, Clinton's approval swiftly
"jumped 10 points to 73%," an all-time high that buried Reagan's highest ever
rating. Recently, ex-Speaker Gingrich conceded to NPR's
Mara Liasson, "We overreached in '98," but not to worry: when opportune,
guess who'll first grab a pitchfork and scream for Obama's scalp?

Would not the drama of impeachment manage to decoy the mislaid
Obama agenda, touting jobs and spurring growth? Because that core "evaporated,"
there's no there there, as Robert Reich explains, thus this president becomes
"vulnerable to every pyromaniac on the Potomac." Indeed, a TV Senate trial
would clarify, like the prospect of hanging, how motivated thugs can and will further
decimate the electoral shreds that remain. Removal from office, when a
political assassination, trumps two majority votes.

2) Impeachment Spawns a Third Obama Campaign. Great politicians are masters of imagery, deftly
brushing their prestige and triumphs with greatness. Like Clinton, what Obama
does best is campaign forcefully, especially under duress. So, would not formal
indictment play to Obama's strengths, especially since Republicans have him
well gridlocked and defensive about what isn't getting done (gun control,
immigration, job stimulus) or gets done badly (Benghazi, the IRS, media intrusions)?

Above all, this master campaigner knows how to capitalize on rightwing weakness,
winning twice less by thrashing Republican nominees than 1) contrasting himself
with the Bush debacle, and 2) framing opponents are nothing more than Bush
redux. Had Republicans not imploded (Senate losers, Palin and Ryan, really?),
Obama Democrats would forego even the delusion they're in charge.

3) Impeachment Confirms the Right Hates Hilary More Than It Fears Biden. If Benghazi (what else?) is centerpiece to the
slugfest, then impeachment turns less on Obama's past than Hilary's future. And
Senate conviction, a long shot without a '14 GOP takeover, puts Biden in the
catbird seat, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a quasi-re-election run in '16. Overall,
Biden brings less baggage, and more entertainment, than would the divisive,
still problematic national campaigner, Ms. Clinton.

This misdirection scheme could stick it to Hilary's potential, as she may
decline any V.P. slot and be too old by 2020. Does the right hate (or fear)
Hilary so much they'd risk further self-immolation by riding the Benghazi house
of cards? And if the right openly humiliates itself, would not subsequent fallout
boost national Democrats, perhaps for a generation?

4) Impeachment Transforms Nasty Gridlock into Political Terrorism: Nothing confirms rightwing contempt for the American
system, if not general welfare and prosperity, more than a botched fishing
expedition. Michael Moore on Friday to Bill Maher, "they [Republicans] hate America."
The right already faces demographic Armageddon as old white, reactionary dinosaurs
die off, plus the wounds from pushing austerity and scoffing at jobs or social programs, even infrastructure
health. Remember talk about Obama extending the Clinton promise, say on health
care. Another failed impeachment helps seal that case: how much easier to prove
Republicans "hate America" than Obama committed high crimes.

Redemption by Martyrdom

Thus an impeachment fiasco would not just potentially re-start the errant Obama
train, but ignite dormant Democratic doormats. Those without the fortitude
to push a progressive vision will still plod ahead by default. How many Democrats
already live to see another day thanks to breathtakingly benighted opponents?
At the end of the day, does history scrutinize the quality of every play -- or
celebrate final scores, championships won, and the shiny trophies winners take
home?

No wonder even the RNC's dim bulb Reince Priebus warned his party against
impeachment "until you have evidence." Only a forceful GOP coming across as "intelligent,"
he said, will prove "this administration is not transparent, is obsessed with
power and hates dissent." Right, nothing like a phony impeachment circus to reinforce
a party's invisible intelligence, detachment from hate, or independence from "obsessions
with power." You can't make this stuff up.

Educated at Rutgers College (BA) and UC Berkeley (Ph.D, English) Becker left university teaching (Northwestern, U. Chicago) for business, founding and heading SOTA Industries, high end audio company from '80 to '92. From '92-02 he did marketing (more...)